Everyone and Their Cousin is a REALTOR -- Is That Really True? It Might Be in Some States!

Brian, very interesting to see...one thing I'd love to see is year end 2008 numbers and the decrease in agents...wonder if there is a way to tell how many agents left the business in 2008?  Its still competitive in our area, but the market changes can be a really good thing for existing agents as they could actually see an increase in their business.

Very interesting. Of course Washington is in the competitive group - maybe I should move to my place in Alaska and sell real estate :)

When the good times were there....everyone and their brother were Realtors. I am currently taking a Real Estate preparation course for my NJ license and there are 5 of us in the class. When I signed up two weeks ago there was on other person and me. The strong will stay, the weak will leave and the ones who feel they can make an impact will join up.

I am NOT surprised to find NC in the VERY COMPETITIVE category. We have over 85,000 REALTORS in our state. AND...according to a friend of mine who is a RE teacher...the classes are FULL...even with the weak market. That will tell you something. I'm thankful to be a part of this industry. I love helping people get their slice of the 'American Pie'. GBU!

This is good news.  I thought it was alot tougher in Florida than that.  This chart with this information made my day.  Great detail. The amount of work you must have put into this is something else.  Great job and thanks.

We have more soccer mom realtors than I can shake a stick at. Got to do something while Timmy is a school or no PTA meetings. I am heavily in favor of actual transactional experience to renew your licence or a combination of more hours if you don't meet a specific number of transactions over the last 5 years. I am also heavily in favor of higher standards just to get licenced, in most states you need more hours to be a cosmotologist. Hair grows back but lost equity due to a bone-head handling your home sale is lost forever.

Great Post! It is an eye opener to see the true statistics. I wonder what percentage of Realtors actually are active in the business. I know in my area that there are many people who hold a license but do relatively no business. 

Gee we only have 13,000 Realtors in Palm Beach County however, the old numbers prove true that 10% make 90% since they do work full time. Great post.

Great Post !!! Thanks for putting it together. Look forward to next year's number

That's very interesting Brian. I'd be curious what the numbers would be if it were licensees and not just REALTORS(R). Of course I knew Floirda would right near the top. I'm surprised California isn';t.

Brian - You are So good!  This is very interesting information.  What comes to mind is a question about the density of the populations.  Texas is largely very rural, I would be curious to know how the "population to agent ratios" fell out in major cities.  I would investigate myself, but I don't have your fantastic skills in research.  Thanks!

I think it was becoming true here in San Diego, but it seems about 6,000 agents have left over the past two years.

Brian,

Some interesting data: The number of salespeople in NYC declined in 2007 but the number of brokers increased. There were 42,200 sales people and 25,500 brokers in the city in 2007. I think Manhattan has about 28,000 agents. About 13,000 properties sold in Manhttan in 2007. I would say fiercely competitive. (0.464 properties per agent and sales are usually split 50/50 between 2 agents)

I think 20% do 80% of the business or something like that.

In the Atlanta area alone we had a 300% increase in Agents up from 12000 to 46000 and we did this in 3 years.  Recently the numbers have fallen to 39000, but sales here equal what they were in the late 1990's when we only had 8500 agents.

I don't often recognize the agent name on a listing like I used to. The REALTOR population has tripled in my county in recent years. It's a bit crazy!

we went from 30K to more than 70K real estate agents from 2000-2005 , we have lost 20%+

Brian was calling expired listings saturday and one lady that I spoke to said that her sister is a real estate professional. I am sure if she said that so that she could get me off the phone. I am surprised to see that there are 1,257,686 amount of realtors in real estate from your chart. Great post.

Yes, but how many of these folks actually sell anything?!?  That is the question!

Thanks for the good information!  Gee's I live in IDAHO  fiercely competitive ...  Thank goodness I live in Lewiston ID!  The Realtor Count in Coeur d'Alene Idaho is crazy!

Brian, in Southern CA, I think the ratio is 12 people to every 1 agent.  That was during the peak.  Frankly, I don't see how all the agents can make a living and stay in business!

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Regina P. Brown
Allison James Estates & Homes
www.ReginaBrown.AllisonJamesInc.com